How a Great Sponsorship Proposal Follows a Hollywood Story Arc (Infographic)

They’re self-centred, having absolutely nothing to do with the sponsor, their brand, target markets, or objectives;

They don’t make a complete business case;

And they’re structured so poorly that it’s actually difficult to make sense of them.

If you’re guilty of even one of these things, selling sponsorship is going to be monumentally more difficult for you. I’ve got lots of resources for addressing these issues listed at the bottom of this article, but I wanted to let you in on a trick I’ve been teaching in my sponsorship workshops for the past few years that I really haven’t covered here before:

A great sponsorship proposal is structured exactly like a Hollywood blockbuster.

There is a certain sense to it – a building of information and context and investment in the outcome – that gets moviegoers to embrace the climax and tell all their friends how amazing it all was. That same approach works for sponsorship proposals – building the information, context, and investment in the outcome of the proposal – getting a brand manager to a place where they understand how it can work for their brand, and are prepared to share that vision with other stakeholders. If you understand and can master the story arc, almost everything else about your proposal will start to naturally fall into place.

Check out the infographic, below (you can click for a larger version). It shows the parallel, as well as outlining what should be included in your proposal at each part of the story arc. If you’re looking for a starting place, there is a sponsorship proposal template that follows this arc in The Sponsorship Seeker’s Toolkit 4th Edition.